Recently in bread Category
By request of on of Jen's friends, I'm going to make a post about my English muffins. In an attempt to save some money, I started making English muffins for breakfast. I wasn't sure how they would turn out at first, but they are quite easy to make, and can be completed in one day, which is always nice.I'm using a recipe from A Bread Bakers Apprentice. It has a handful of ingredients, and is very easy to complete. I've made three batches of muffins, and they get easier each time. No special equipment is needed, well.. you will need a cast iron griddle or skillet to cook them, besides that, it's all straight forward.
Ingredients are flour, butter, milk, yeast, salt, sugar, and corn meal.
The recipe makes six large English muffins, the tops and bottoms are crispy, while the center is soft and full of nooks and crannies (if you open them correctly). The corn meal is used for dusting, otherwise, they would never release from the parchment paper when you go to cook them.To cook them - warm up a griddle and oven to 350 degrees. Once it is up to temperature, drop three of the muffins on the griddle and cook for seven to eight minutes. Flip them over and cook fro the same amount of time. When you put them on the griddle, you may hear they crackle and pop, this is normal and nothing to be concerned about. The goal is to get a nice dark crust on the bottom before flipping. They will come to a medium brown in two to three minutes, but may take up to eight minutes to get the nice rich brown you are looking for. They are very resilient to burning, so if you keep an eye out for the color after 5 minutes, you should not have any problems.
Once cooked on both sides, place the muffins in the oven for 8 minutes to insure the centers are cooked through. Then cool on a rack until room temperature. We keep ours chilled, and fork separate them before toasting in the morning. To get the expected texture when toasting, you really need to use fork to separate them, otherwise, you get a uniform smooth cut with no where for the butter/lemon curd/cheese/etc to go.These can easily be completed in an afternoon. When the little chef gets a little bigger, I think he would have fun helping me make these. Since everything is done on the griddle, they are easy to shape, drop, and flip.
Recipe after the break ---
Continue reading English Muffins.
Better late then never - right?
This holiday season, we decided to bake most of our gifts. I made lemon sable cookies, biscotti, stolen, cinnamon raisin bread, marshmallows, brioche, and some Portuguese sweet bread. Everything turned out well.
The Lemon Sable cookies were first. They were slightly lemony, with hints saltiness and sugar. They had the perfect balance of sandiness and chewy.
Next was the biscotti. There were multiple batches of these Italian twice baked cookies. The Little chef helped me make a few batches of what he calls "Mixer cookies"
We made honey lavender-lemon, mixed fruit (cranberries, cherries, and raisins) and spice, chocolate chocolate, and chocolate chip. The little guy loves these cookies. These were based on the Dorie Greenspan recipe - I really like the addition of corn meal in the recipe. It adds a nice touch of texture that is so often missing from these cookies.
For the stolen, I soaked some zante currants, golden raisins, tart cherries, and craisins in Myers rum and ginger alcohol. With the addition of cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, and some Navan liquor made the stolen very moist and flavorful. They rose nicely, and when dusted with powdered sugar, looked very festive.
Everything else was straight forward. The brioche was the best thing I made this season. It's hard to screw up bread with a pound of butter and 5 eggs. We had that at New Years brunch at Piet's place, and for the worlds best French toast the next day. I'll be making the brioche again in the next few weeks, it smells so good when baking, and when slightly toasted or grilled, so much flavor comes out.
This holiday season, we decided to bake most of our gifts. I made lemon sable cookies, biscotti, stolen, cinnamon raisin bread, marshmallows, brioche, and some Portuguese sweet bread. Everything turned out well.The Lemon Sable cookies were first. They were slightly lemony, with hints saltiness and sugar. They had the perfect balance of sandiness and chewy.
Next was the biscotti. There were multiple batches of these Italian twice baked cookies. The Little chef helped me make a few batches of what he calls "Mixer cookies"
We made honey lavender-lemon, mixed fruit (cranberries, cherries, and raisins) and spice, chocolate chocolate, and chocolate chip. The little guy loves these cookies. These were based on the Dorie Greenspan recipe - I really like the addition of corn meal in the recipe. It adds a nice touch of texture that is so often missing from these cookies.
For the stolen, I soaked some zante currants, golden raisins, tart cherries, and craisins in Myers rum and ginger alcohol. With the addition of cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, and some Navan liquor made the stolen very moist and flavorful. They rose nicely, and when dusted with powdered sugar, looked very festive.
Everything else was straight forward. The brioche was the best thing I made this season. It's hard to screw up bread with a pound of butter and 5 eggs. We had that at New Years brunch at Piet's place, and for the worlds best French toast the next day. I'll be making the brioche again in the next few weeks, it smells so good when baking, and when slightly toasted or grilled, so much flavor comes out.
This last Saturday we had company over for dinner. Aidan and Finn ran around and exhausted each other while I ran a marathon in the kitchen. Piet, his wife (and their son), brought over some excellent gravlax and sauce. I made some sourdough pumpernickel bread. This was my first time making pumpernickel, it was surprising that so few stores have pumpernickel flour. I tried Ukrops, Krogers, The Fresh Market, and Elwood Thompson's. As a last attempt, I tried the organic section of the Ukrops by my house. They had a small bag of dark rye flour, this is not pumpernickel flour, but it was really close, and closer then anything I had found. The addition of coffee and the molasses from the brown sugar made a very dark crust, and a deep, rich colored crumb. 
Next was a little kitchen science. This was my first attempt at the elBulli staple: Liquid Pea Ravioli. This is a simple mixture of peas, mint, and two chemicals, topped with a tiny mint leaf and a bit of sea salt. This was interesting, the texture of the peas is much thicker then the fruit juice mixtures I've been doing. It took a little experimenting to get a clean release from the spoon, but once that was solved, we had a handful of pea ravioli to munch on.During this entire time, we were sipping miscellaneous drinks. We had carbonated Bombay Sapphire Gin, foamy absinthe mojitos, and passionfruit whisky sours with passionfruit foam. The mojitos were made in the soda siphon, and the passionfruit foam was made in the gourmet whip. We broke up the red wine and white wine for dinner.
I had been rolling and cutting pasta all afternoon. The KitchenAid attachment makes this so easy. If you like to make pasta, I highly recommend the attachments. No hand cranking, variable speeds and size settings. I've rolled pasta by hand, without the aid of a crank machine, and they all produce the same quality, but the amount of work involved in making the pasta is minimal with the automated tools. Once the pasta was rolled and cut, it rested for a few hours in the refrigerator. Next up was more food prep. Pancetta and bacon from Belmont Butchery. The smell of cured and smoky pork. Mmmmmmmmm.This was sauteed in white wine, then tossed with the hot pasta with eggs, parmegianno reggiano, pecorino romano, and garlic. More commonly known as Pasta alla Carbonara. This was accompanied with some sundreid tomato, basil, and parmigiano sourdough bread. We had a fresh heirloom tomato and olive oil topping for the bread. The pasta cooked in two minutes and thirty seconds, one of the nice things about fresh pasta.
I had a intermediate course planned, but we were all full from dinner. I'll discuss this down at the bottom of the post.For dessert, we had a chocolate tart with caramel and peanuts. This was my second recipe from the Baking with Dorie cookbook. This came out very well. I made ti a few hours before company arrived, and have been enjoying it for dessert each night this week.
The skipped course. I was planning on sfering some cantaloupe and serving it with prosciutto. Sunday night, amid the thunderstorms, I was in the kitchen. Like Dr. Frankenstein, I was making something come to life as the lightning struck around me. Drip Drip Drip Drip. One by one, droplets of melon were going into a waterbath and being transformed into melon caviar. I've made fruit caviar a few times, and I have the technique down.
Not Quite Nigella has decided to throw her first blogging event.
When eaten by themselves, cacao nibs have a crunchy, cool, chocolaty taste. They are a little grainy, but get smooth as you chew them. Many fine candy retailers will have a variety of nibs available for purchase. Once baked, the cacao nibs take on the texture of walnuts. The flavor is very mellow, and when baked in the bread, most people think the bread contains nuts, instead of cacao nibs. If you think chocolate, you can taste it, otherwise, I'm not sure the flavor is strong enough. Also - if you think chocolate - you'll want sweetened chocolate. Yes, sweetened chocolate would make this much better, but would turn it into more of a dessert. Sweetened nibs, or chocolate-coated nibs, might make this better, without overpowering the bread.
I think I will pick up some of the chocolate-coated cacao nibs and try this recipe again. Anyway - here is the recipe:
Cacao Nibbed Banana Bread
3 Overripe Bananas
1 Cup Sugar
1 Stick Melted Butter (cooled)
2 Large Eggs
1 tsp Rum
2 Cups Unbleached AP Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1/2 cup cacao nibs
Preheat oven to 350 degrees (non convection)
Spray a loaf pan with nonstick spray, and make a parchment sling for the pan.
Mash the bananas with the sugar until liquefied, then mix in the butter, eggs, and rum.
Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Fold that into the bananas and mix until combined. Fold in the cacao nibs and pour into a prepared loaf pan.
Bake for 50 minutes to 70 minutes. You want the internal temp to be 210 degrees, and an inserted toothpick needs to come out clean. Mine took about 65 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes in the pan. Remove from pan, peel off sling, and rest on wire rack until the bread is near room temperature.
I was planning on using the rest of the bananas,
until I came across her event. Now I can do both. I used my
tried-and-true banana bread recipe (adapted from Alton Brown's). It's worked
a number of times, is fast and easy to do. This time I added some cacao
nibs to the recipe
When eaten by themselves, cacao nibs have a crunchy, cool, chocolaty taste. They are a little grainy, but get smooth as you chew them. Many fine candy retailers will have a variety of nibs available for purchase. Once baked, the cacao nibs take on the texture of walnuts. The flavor is very mellow, and when baked in the bread, most people think the bread contains nuts, instead of cacao nibs. If you think chocolate, you can taste it, otherwise, I'm not sure the flavor is strong enough. Also - if you think chocolate - you'll want sweetened chocolate. Yes, sweetened chocolate would make this much better, but would turn it into more of a dessert. Sweetened nibs, or chocolate-coated nibs, might make this better, without overpowering the bread.
I think I will pick up some of the chocolate-coated cacao nibs and try this recipe again. Anyway - here is the recipe:Cacao Nibbed Banana Bread
3 Overripe Bananas
1 Cup Sugar
1 Stick Melted Butter (cooled)
2 Large Eggs
1 tsp Rum
2 Cups Unbleached AP Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1/2 cup cacao nibs
Preheat oven to 350 degrees (non convection)
Spray a loaf pan with nonstick spray, and make a parchment sling for the pan.
Mash the bananas with the sugar until liquefied, then mix in the butter, eggs, and rum.
Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Fold that into the bananas and mix until combined. Fold in the cacao nibs and pour into a prepared loaf pan.
Bake for 50 minutes to 70 minutes. You want the internal temp to be 210 degrees, and an inserted toothpick needs to come out clean. Mine took about 65 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes in the pan. Remove from pan, peel off sling, and rest on wire rack until the bread is near room temperature.
I have a new healthy starter! My old one died and got funky when I was sick, so I rebuilt a new one from scratch. This time I stored some of the Seed Culture in the freezer. That way I should be able to resurrect it if dies again. Back to the sourdough -- I made a large loaf with mimolette cheese. I diced the cheese into little bits and incorporated it into the dough before the first rise. the bread came out great! The sourdough starter imparted a great flavor in the bread, and the little pockets of cheese were wonderful. As usual, the little guy spotted the bread immediatly and wanted some.
As for the oven spring, I think I needed to let the dough proof for 30 more minutes, or make the slashes a little larger. The bread exploded on me and cracked the base of the bread. Technically, the slash and exposure is called a grigne, but I keep thinking I mispelled a word.
In other bread baking news, I attempted the Poilane style miche again. I say again because I made a masonry brick the first time. 
Miche refers to a large round loaf. Poilane refers to Lionel Poilane, French boulanger. I don't know what I did wrong the first time, but it was quite wrong. Nothing went right. This is a LARGE and interesting recipe. It's huge, it even says not to use a stand mixer, because you will break it. It has 3 pounds fo flour in the recipe, add that to 2 cups of water, it is a mass of dough to be reckened with. as I said, the first time I made a masonry brick. It was hard and inedible. I didn't blog about it becasue I wanted to figure out how to do this darned recipe first. I made another attempt, and pulled the bread out of the oven yesterday. This one proofed better, was much easier to work with, but I think I still have the proof timing off. As with the sourdough above, this wheat sourdough exploded out of the gates. I worry about overproofing the dough and starving the yeast, but they get overexcited if there is too much food when you start to bake the bread. I'm doing some research to see if I can get this figured out.
On the good sice, the Miche taste great and has a nice crusty exterior. It think the top will soften a little int he next 24 hours, but it does not fit the bill for what my wife wanted. She wanted sandwhich bread for PB&J -- this bread requires meat and cheese. It is tangy, has a very light rye flavor, and goes great with soppresetta, cheese, garlic and oil, anything hearty.
This month's Daring Baker's challenge was French Bread. Mary and Sarah picked a classic Julia Child's recipe. I've made the Peter Reinhart version a few times, and the recipe is drastically different. I decided to make both and compare the two outcomes.Like all my breads, I take a very hands on approach. I don't use mixers, I like the feel of the dough, and I can tell when it is ready by how it feels in my hands. The Julia Child's recipe was the first batch I made, so I will start with that. The recipe was pretty straight forward, the bread proofed up well the first day, but because of my work schedule, I had to take one liberty with the set of instructions. I retarded the second rise in the refrigerator. To make this all in one day is a VERY time consuming venture. Some of the other Daring bakers were quoting 9 hours or more to get the bread into the oven. With work and the little one, there is no way I was going to find that time in one day.
The dough was very supple and easy to work with. It formed up well, and the last rise was effortless. I used a kitchen towel rubbed down with flour - one tip - If you do this, make sure the towel is not treated with fabric softener. The smell can pass over into the dough, I've had trouble with getting dough to release from my slip, so I bake all my dough on parchment now. About halfway through cooking, I pull the parchment out. This prevents the bunches of seminola from forming on the bottom of the bread. I formed three shapes. 2 baguettes and one 'mini loaf'. I use a lame to make my slashes, and cook on a bakers stone.
The Julia recipe looks beautiful, came out with a great crust and a good crumb, but it was a little too salty for my taste, and the bread did not have a lot of heartiness to it. Two of my loaves came out perfect, the other one split lengthwise. It still looks good from one angle, and tastes just like the others. It had the smallest crumb, that is because the steam decided a quick side exit was the easiest way to get out. I thought I had the surface tension correct on that one, but apparently, I misses a pinch somewhere. Overall, the bread was quite nice and easy to make, but lacked something in the flavor category.
I attempted the Peter Reinhart version a week later. This recipe uses both bread and AP flour, this changes the crumb, flavor, and gluten creation. It also uses a pan fermentate - this adds a lot of flavor to the final recipe. The preferment is a mixture of instant yeast, water, and flour. You mix it up, let it rise for a few hours, then cool it overnight. This allows a little fermentation to take place, and adds a lot of that 'bready' flavor. This recipe uses less salt, which removed the saltiness that was present in the Julia's recipe. The final product was not as light as Julia's recipe, but it had more depth.
Which one do I like better? I'm not sure. Both recipes can be broken into two day events without affecting the final product. One was salty, but that is easily corrected by using less salt. I do think there is a disservice to the Julia recipe by not utilizing a preferment, but the lightness of the inside was great. I think I will try a hybrid batch in the future. Take the bread flour preferment and salt content from Peter's recipe, and the yeast and AP ratio from Julia's.All in all, I had fun, and the house was full of bread for a few weeks. Check in tomorrow to see how my new sourdough starter turns out! I've got a loaf forming up in a brotform now :D
Ok -- updates!
Well first, Happy Birthday to me :D
Second - updates!
In the last month I've made bread, killed my sourdough starter, started another seed culture, cooked with the little guy, painted another mural, was ill for two weeks, and am healthy again!
I'll start with the seed culture/sourdough starter. I killed it. I killed it good!. I started a new one a few days ago, and it is starting to smell like beer. That's a good sign :D I have two more days of cultivation before I convert it to a barm. The barm is the actual sourdough starter. I've asked some questions and done some research on how to preserve your barm, so some will be dried, and another bit will be frozen. when you really want bread, you realize you are about a week from being able to make sourdough.
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I finished the second wall in the little guy's room. A continuation of the space scene, this wall is more detailed, little planets, stars, more colors. I'm quite happy with it. It was greeted with an "ISH" and finger point.
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On the cooking front, I made carbonara a few days ago. I was 'trying' to be a little healthy and made it with whole wheat pasta. well, the cheese, bacon, wine, and garlic were on point. The pasta was just weird. The texture is different, and the flavor was really strong, almost to the point of overpowering. I know, it seems weird that pasta can overpower the raw garlic and cheese, but it did. I think I will make this again, but make some homemade pasta with white wheat and AP flour. See if that comes out with a better taste/texture while still getting some whole wheat in the diet. Carbonara is a simple recipe to make, and it looks fancy when done.
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I attempted to make sourdough whole wheat bread. It was a whole wheat brick - a two pound brick - massive bread baking failure on my part. I will attempt this recipe in the future. On the up side - I made a great sourdough bread with cheese mixed in. It came out incredibly good, but I was in a hurry and cut into it a little early (it smelled SO good). Well, I now know why a full size boule is supposed to rest for 2 hours. The first slice was perfect, the second slice was perfect. Warm, cheesy, full of goodness. Then the next slice ran into gooey, sticky, steamy, raw dough. Yeah -- it wasn't done cooking. I freaked out, what should I do? Do I put it back in the oven, do I throw it out, do I just leave it? I opted to leave it alone.
The carryover heat from the initial bake cooked all of the bread. the exposed uncooked dough even cooked up. It was a little tough and deformed there, so I cut that part out, and the rest of the bread was cooked. Lesson - Let the bread rest for 2 hours - it's still cooking!
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I got a new banneton, so I now have a round one for boules, and an oblong one for ... um.. rustic loaves?
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Lets see, what else can I talk about. The Little Chef! He's really coming along for a 2 year old. He runs into the kitchen and tries to pull the tower over to the counter. Last night, he was mixing his goldfish with flour, salt, and Swedish fish. He loves the spice drawer. We are at the point where he will open the spices and sniff them, then he puts the lid back on and puts them back in the drawer. He helped me make a spice run for some pork a few days ago. I gave him around 7 jars of spices on the counter, he chose to use 4 of them. It was a little strong, so I added some flour to balance it out, but overall, it was quite tasty. He's quite fond of the turmeric, I think the bright yellow color is attractive. I think he used turmeric, cinnamon, cumin, and the cajun spice mix. It was very cute and he was incredibly happy.
He has learned *poof* -- I was making some bread while he was in the tower, so I looked at him and did the magician hand thingie - flour flew off my hands. He now will say poof and make the hand gesture. It's so cute. He will even dip his hands in flour and make a tiny little cloud. I think we are a few months away from him actually making bread dough, but he enjoys watching me make it, and he LOVES to eat the final product. He has a little "daddy bread" radar. He would run off with the entire boule if we let him.
Well first, Happy Birthday to me :D
Second - updates!
In the last month I've made bread, killed my sourdough starter, started another seed culture, cooked with the little guy, painted another mural, was ill for two weeks, and am healthy again!
I'll start with the seed culture/sourdough starter. I killed it. I killed it good!. I started a new one a few days ago, and it is starting to smell like beer. That's a good sign :D I have two more days of cultivation before I convert it to a barm. The barm is the actual sourdough starter. I've asked some questions and done some research on how to preserve your barm, so some will be dried, and another bit will be frozen. when you really want bread, you realize you are about a week from being able to make sourdough.
-----
I finished the second wall in the little guy's room. A continuation of the space scene, this wall is more detailed, little planets, stars, more colors. I'm quite happy with it. It was greeted with an "ISH" and finger point.
-----
On the cooking front, I made carbonara a few days ago. I was 'trying' to be a little healthy and made it with whole wheat pasta. well, the cheese, bacon, wine, and garlic were on point. The pasta was just weird. The texture is different, and the flavor was really strong, almost to the point of overpowering. I know, it seems weird that pasta can overpower the raw garlic and cheese, but it did. I think I will make this again, but make some homemade pasta with white wheat and AP flour. See if that comes out with a better taste/texture while still getting some whole wheat in the diet. Carbonara is a simple recipe to make, and it looks fancy when done.-----
I attempted to make sourdough whole wheat bread. It was a whole wheat brick - a two pound brick - massive bread baking failure on my part. I will attempt this recipe in the future. On the up side - I made a great sourdough bread with cheese mixed in. It came out incredibly good, but I was in a hurry and cut into it a little early (it smelled SO good). Well, I now know why a full size boule is supposed to rest for 2 hours. The first slice was perfect, the second slice was perfect. Warm, cheesy, full of goodness. Then the next slice ran into gooey, sticky, steamy, raw dough. Yeah -- it wasn't done cooking. I freaked out, what should I do? Do I put it back in the oven, do I throw it out, do I just leave it? I opted to leave it alone.
The carryover heat from the initial bake cooked all of the bread. the exposed uncooked dough even cooked up. It was a little tough and deformed there, so I cut that part out, and the rest of the bread was cooked. Lesson - Let the bread rest for 2 hours - it's still cooking!
-----
I got a new banneton, so I now have a round one for boules, and an oblong one for ... um.. rustic loaves?
-----
Lets see, what else can I talk about. The Little Chef! He's really coming along for a 2 year old. He runs into the kitchen and tries to pull the tower over to the counter. Last night, he was mixing his goldfish with flour, salt, and Swedish fish. He loves the spice drawer. We are at the point where he will open the spices and sniff them, then he puts the lid back on and puts them back in the drawer. He helped me make a spice run for some pork a few days ago. I gave him around 7 jars of spices on the counter, he chose to use 4 of them. It was a little strong, so I added some flour to balance it out, but overall, it was quite tasty. He's quite fond of the turmeric, I think the bright yellow color is attractive. I think he used turmeric, cinnamon, cumin, and the cajun spice mix. It was very cute and he was incredibly happy.He has learned *poof* -- I was making some bread while he was in the tower, so I looked at him and did the magician hand thingie - flour flew off my hands. He now will say poof and make the hand gesture. It's so cute. He will even dip his hands in flour and make a tiny little cloud. I think we are a few months away from him actually making bread dough, but he enjoys watching me make it, and he LOVES to eat the final product. He has a little "daddy bread" radar. He would run off with the entire boule if we let him.
No, this isn't made with banana bread, but that might be an interesting approach in the future. I came across this recipe while flipping through Bon Appétit. I had decided on bread pudding because my mother really likes it. I found a few recipes, but this one called to me - salt caramel and bananas. One of the recipes I had flipped through called for brioche, I decided to replace the white bread in the BA recipe with brioche. I hit the local bakery to be told they don't make it anymore. Well, I went home and almost broke my KitchenAid!
I made three small loaves of "Rich Man's" Brioche. The dough was SO tough on the stand mixer, but OHHH the smell of butter. This was my first time attempting brioche, and it came out perfectly - all three loaves. One loaf was sacrificed to French toast and toddler munching, the rest was saved for bread pudding.
The pudding recipe was pretty easy, it even used store bought caramel sauce to save time. I made a few small changes to the recipe -- I used vanilla bean pods, the brioche, less caramel, and a little extra sea salt. But everything else was straight from the magazine
Caramel-Banana Bread Pudding
8 ramekins
Lay out all the brioche and lightly toast in the oven - you are not looking to add color, just to stiffen up the surface. Mix the caramel with the coarse and fine sea salts. Once toasted, spoon 1 tbsp of the caramel sauce in each ramekin. When the bread is cool, spread the remaining caramel sauce evenly over the rest of the bread. Broil the bread for one minute and rotate the pan. broil for 30 to 60 more seconds. you want the caramel to bubble little, and the bread to begin to darken - do not burn the bread or caramel. Cool
While the bread cools, rub the inside of each ramekin with cold butter. Cut each piece of bread into four pieces and place a banana slice on each piece. If you cut it diagonally, you might be able to cover each piece with a single slice. standing the bread on it's edge, place 5 or 6 slices in each ramekin - you may have to push the last piece in place. Once they are all done, prepare the filling.
Whisk the eggs, half and half, milk, vanilla paste, 1 1/2 tbsp sugar, and 1/8 tsp fine sea salt together. Pour the mixture into each ramekin (I filled each 1/2 up, then balanced the rest of the custard across the ramekins so they were all filled to the same level). Let the custard sit for 30 minutes - most of the mixture will be absorbed in the bread. They can be refrigerated (covered) for up to 8 hours at this point.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and set a pot of water boiling. If you have any extra custard, pour it into the ramekins. Brush the exposed bread with the melted butter and sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar over the ramekins. When the oven is preheated, place the ramekins in a large roasting pan, put the roasting pan in the oven, then pour in the water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. bake for 45 minutes - checking the last 10 minutes for burning. A knife should come out cleanly.
Serve warm or at room temperature. Vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream would go well with these.
They came out beautifully, but next time I would either add chopped up salt caramels with the bananas, or place a whole salt caramel in the center of the empty ramekin - the gooey center concept. The addition of the larger salt crystals gets you a few 'crunchy salt' moments when eating. If you have had salt caramel, you know probably what I am talking about.
I made three small loaves of "Rich Man's" Brioche. The dough was SO tough on the stand mixer, but OHHH the smell of butter. This was my first time attempting brioche, and it came out perfectly - all three loaves. One loaf was sacrificed to French toast and toddler munching, the rest was saved for bread pudding.The pudding recipe was pretty easy, it even used store bought caramel sauce to save time. I made a few small changes to the recipe -- I used vanilla bean pods, the brioche, less caramel, and a little extra sea salt. But everything else was straight from the magazine
Caramel-Banana Bread Pudding
- 1 cup purchased caramel sauce
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt- 1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt (I used gray)
- 1/8 tsp fine sea salt (yes 2, it's not duplicated)
- 3 1/2 bananas
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups half and half
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 11 slices of brioche (2.5x3-inch slices 1/4 inches thick
8 ramekins
Lay out all the brioche and lightly toast in the oven - you are not looking to add color, just to stiffen up the surface. Mix the caramel with the coarse and fine sea salts. Once toasted, spoon 1 tbsp of the caramel sauce in each ramekin. When the bread is cool, spread the remaining caramel sauce evenly over the rest of the bread. Broil the bread for one minute and rotate the pan. broil for 30 to 60 more seconds. you want the caramel to bubble little, and the bread to begin to darken - do not burn the bread or caramel. Cool
While the bread cools, rub the inside of each ramekin with cold butter. Cut each piece of bread into four pieces and place a banana slice on each piece. If you cut it diagonally, you might be able to cover each piece with a single slice. standing the bread on it's edge, place 5 or 6 slices in each ramekin - you may have to push the last piece in place. Once they are all done, prepare the filling.Whisk the eggs, half and half, milk, vanilla paste, 1 1/2 tbsp sugar, and 1/8 tsp fine sea salt together. Pour the mixture into each ramekin (I filled each 1/2 up, then balanced the rest of the custard across the ramekins so they were all filled to the same level). Let the custard sit for 30 minutes - most of the mixture will be absorbed in the bread. They can be refrigerated (covered) for up to 8 hours at this point.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and set a pot of water boiling. If you have any extra custard, pour it into the ramekins. Brush the exposed bread with the melted butter and sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar over the ramekins. When the oven is preheated, place the ramekins in a large roasting pan, put the roasting pan in the oven, then pour in the water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. bake for 45 minutes - checking the last 10 minutes for burning. A knife should come out cleanly.
Serve warm or at room temperature. Vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream would go well with these.
They came out beautifully, but next time I would either add chopped up salt caramels with the bananas, or place a whole salt caramel in the center of the empty ramekin - the gooey center concept. The addition of the larger salt crystals gets you a few 'crunchy salt' moments when eating. If you have had salt caramel, you know probably what I am talking about.
I've been neglecting my blog -- time to catch up.
I'll start with the yeastie living in my fridge. My starter is happy, tangy, and bubbly. So far, it's created 5 batches of bread. Each one is better then the previous. I've been doing copious amounts of research on sourdough, and I hope I have ironed out the kinks I kept running into. I have a nice banneton (rattan bowl) that I use for forming my dough on the second proof. That little bugger was a learning experience all in itself. If you use too little flour, the dough does not want to release, if you use too much, there is too much flour left on the surface. Rice flour is the general consensus - some say 100% white rice flour, others call for 50% white rice, and 50% all purpose. You still get the nice pattern on the dough, but you use less to get the clean release.
I finally figured out the problem I was having with proofing my bread. I let it overproof. This means it no longer has the oomph needed to rise when it hits the bakers stone. It would un-form from the banneton, I would slash it, and it would just sag. When I put it in the oven, there was no spring. In the first 5 to 10 minutes of cooking, the dough will rise one last time. This is where the expansion around the cuts comes from. Overproofed bread just bakes, properly proofed bread will grow in size, and the small slashes will expand.
Though I can comment on "misbaked bread" - it still tastes better then anything in the supermarket.
This entire time, I have been doing 100% of the work by hand. I like the feel of kneading the bread, and it is very easy to tell when it is ready, My last two batches were perfect, gigantic boules of sourdough. for the holiday dinner, I folded in some shaved Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and fresh rosemary from the back yard. It was fragrant, tangy, and crusty. The lift in the oven was excellent, and the bread made a great compliment to the Beef-Shank Peposo (that's another post).
The next time I make bread, I will take more pictures and post the recipe I use.
I'll start with the yeastie living in my fridge. My starter is happy, tangy, and bubbly. So far, it's created 5 batches of bread. Each one is better then the previous. I've been doing copious amounts of research on sourdough, and I hope I have ironed out the kinks I kept running into. I have a nice banneton (rattan bowl) that I use for forming my dough on the second proof. That little bugger was a learning experience all in itself. If you use too little flour, the dough does not want to release, if you use too much, there is too much flour left on the surface. Rice flour is the general consensus - some say 100% white rice flour, others call for 50% white rice, and 50% all purpose. You still get the nice pattern on the dough, but you use less to get the clean release.
I finally figured out the problem I was having with proofing my bread. I let it overproof. This means it no longer has the oomph needed to rise when it hits the bakers stone. It would un-form from the banneton, I would slash it, and it would just sag. When I put it in the oven, there was no spring. In the first 5 to 10 minutes of cooking, the dough will rise one last time. This is where the expansion around the cuts comes from. Overproofed bread just bakes, properly proofed bread will grow in size, and the small slashes will expand.Though I can comment on "misbaked bread" - it still tastes better then anything in the supermarket.
This entire time, I have been doing 100% of the work by hand. I like the feel of kneading the bread, and it is very easy to tell when it is ready, My last two batches were perfect, gigantic boules of sourdough. for the holiday dinner, I folded in some shaved Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and fresh rosemary from the back yard. It was fragrant, tangy, and crusty. The lift in the oven was excellent, and the bread made a great compliment to the Beef-Shank Peposo (that's another post).
The next time I make bread, I will take more pictures and post the recipe I use.
I've been cultivating a seed starter for a few days, and I'm ready to convert it into a barm. Did that make any sense to you? If so, you have some sourdough experience. If not, then let me explain it.
To make sourdough bread, you need locally cultivated wild yeast in a mixture of doughy gunk - that is the seed starter. It is a 4 to 5 day process if you are lucky. I think the cold weather slowed mine down, but it is finally where it needs to be. To make the starter, you start with rye flour and water. that's all. You mix the two together and place it in a jar. By leaving the jar open, the natural yeasts in the air will come and set up shop. The first few days of building a starter can be very complicated. The yeast needs an acidic and oxygen rich environment to thrive.
Most flours contain leuconostoc mesenteroides bacteria. This little bugger actually inhibits the growth of yeast, while, at the same time, masquerades as yeast. On Day two, you mix in flour and more water. At this stage, the culture is supposed to double in size overnight. Well -- those pesky leuconostocs give off a ton of CO2. This makes the starter 'rise' -- you think everything is going well... then --- nothing. My starter rose maybe 2 cm the next day. The one advantage to this -- the bacteria makes the dough very very acidic. This helps kill the bacteria - leavignthe acid, and at the same time, starts to feed the yeast.
Most people apparently give up on day four because they think they killed their starter. I almost did. I halved it and fed it again - not much happened the next day. I decided to give it a rest in a warmer room. After 24 hours we started getting a little activity. Not quite the doubling we were supposed to get, but it had started. I thought it looked a little soupy, so I stirred in a little bread flour. The next day it looked quite happy, but, I didn't have any flour left. So it sat for another day. I was ready to convert it to a barm the next day, but I didn't feel well - so one more day to ferment.
The starter smells like sourdough, that tells me the lactic acid is doing its job.
After going through this process I stumbled across the authors blog. He talks about inherent problems with his starter recipe. 1. it needs to be stirred 2 or 3 times a day to replenish the oxygen (this also circulates the acid and kills anything on the surface.). 2. The first two days acidity levels are too low for it to work. He suggests using pineapple juice to boost the acidity, then going back to water afterwards.
Well, I'm past both of those, and mine seems to be working.. so .. go figure. Tonight I will convert it to a barm. That is where you significantly increase the flour and water mixture. This will setup in 4 hours, and can be immediately used for sponge making (the sponge is the "starter" for the actual bread). Or it can be packaged and stored to live in the refrigerator. with bi-weekly feedings, these 'yeasties' can live forever. When you feed your barm, it is typical to discard half of it. When you do this - you can feed both halves, and give away one as a gift to another baker, or you can use the half to make the sourdough sponge.
If it doesn't work.. I still have time to start from scratch and have it ready for the holidays.
To make sourdough bread, you need locally cultivated wild yeast in a mixture of doughy gunk - that is the seed starter. It is a 4 to 5 day process if you are lucky. I think the cold weather slowed mine down, but it is finally where it needs to be. To make the starter, you start with rye flour and water. that's all. You mix the two together and place it in a jar. By leaving the jar open, the natural yeasts in the air will come and set up shop. The first few days of building a starter can be very complicated. The yeast needs an acidic and oxygen rich environment to thrive.
Most flours contain leuconostoc mesenteroides bacteria. This little bugger actually inhibits the growth of yeast, while, at the same time, masquerades as yeast. On Day two, you mix in flour and more water. At this stage, the culture is supposed to double in size overnight. Well -- those pesky leuconostocs give off a ton of CO2. This makes the starter 'rise' -- you think everything is going well... then --- nothing. My starter rose maybe 2 cm the next day. The one advantage to this -- the bacteria makes the dough very very acidic. This helps kill the bacteria - leavignthe acid, and at the same time, starts to feed the yeast.
Most people apparently give up on day four because they think they killed their starter. I almost did. I halved it and fed it again - not much happened the next day. I decided to give it a rest in a warmer room. After 24 hours we started getting a little activity. Not quite the doubling we were supposed to get, but it had started. I thought it looked a little soupy, so I stirred in a little bread flour. The next day it looked quite happy, but, I didn't have any flour left. So it sat for another day. I was ready to convert it to a barm the next day, but I didn't feel well - so one more day to ferment.
The starter smells like sourdough, that tells me the lactic acid is doing its job.
After going through this process I stumbled across the authors blog. He talks about inherent problems with his starter recipe. 1. it needs to be stirred 2 or 3 times a day to replenish the oxygen (this also circulates the acid and kills anything on the surface.). 2. The first two days acidity levels are too low for it to work. He suggests using pineapple juice to boost the acidity, then going back to water afterwards.
Well, I'm past both of those, and mine seems to be working.. so .. go figure. Tonight I will convert it to a barm. That is where you significantly increase the flour and water mixture. This will setup in 4 hours, and can be immediately used for sponge making (the sponge is the "starter" for the actual bread). Or it can be packaged and stored to live in the refrigerator. with bi-weekly feedings, these 'yeasties' can live forever. When you feed your barm, it is typical to discard half of it. When you do this - you can feed both halves, and give away one as a gift to another baker, or you can use the half to make the sourdough sponge.
If it doesn't work.. I still have time to start from scratch and have it ready for the holidays.
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